Went to look at the studio space and artist collective with the three other folks I’m looking at sharing space with tonight (not naming, as I haven’t cleared things with everyone yet), and holy carp, y’all, I really love the place. The studio itself is slightly smaller than the space I shared with another friend years ago, but bigger than the spare room I’m using as my primary workspace right now, but since we’d all rarely be in there at the same time, this is fine. Even if we’re all there at the same time, it’s still got enough space for us all to to the Things That We Do (fiber/silk painting, leatherwork, jewelry of assorted varieties, mixed media, etc.) without really getting in each others’ way. The area that the collective comprises is….
gorgeous.
It’s small, cozy, and packed to the gills with beautiful jewelry, paintings, candles, hand-spun and dyed yarn, books, pottery, as well as delicious furniture in the common area, enormous windows, vibrant blues and purples, and and and…
I am in LOVE.
I want this work so much it hurts. I want to be around other artists again, and have a space that I can display and sell my art and weird little bits and bobs again and not have to worry about shipping and SEO algorithms, and oh gods, I just…
I want this so much I’m afraid of it. I’m afraid to hope. I want to hope, but I’m scared that this will get taken away again.
Light candles, throw bags of butterscotch candies at Trickster, or whatever, that our application will be accepted.
(No, I’m absolutely not freaking out about the state of this website right now, at all. I mean, it’s not like I’m trying to pretend I’m a Real Artist and Business Owner or anything while this place is a disaster that I haven’t had the time to really clean up and make presentable to Polite Company yet. *hyperventilates into a paper bag over my continued failure to come up with a pithy bio section or “proper” portfolio section yet*)
Seriously, though, and without dramatic *gestures above*, I want this to work out for us. For me, having a space to showcase my art, without the stress of having to fight with photography lighting while living in a questionably lit valley and not being a pro photographer, produce the massive quantities associated with shows, or the caliber expected at galleries (let’s face it, I’m effectively an illustrator of sorts, and my work doesn’t jive with fancy art gallery styles), and the flexibility to do the weird, random things I do, would help me get a solid foundation under me. For my would-be studio mates, it’s also a solid foundation to really, finally, get a solid footing in the lives and worlds we want to build for ourselves, and I want this for us all, so very, very much.
Gonna go huff a Goblin Boy’s fur for calm now…